Dark Forest Capital Management LP Has $658,000 Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Dark Forest Capital Management LP decreased its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 37.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,096 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 666 shares during the period. Dark Forest Capital Management LP’s holdings in MSCI were worth $658,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,897,456 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,136,563,000 after purchasing an additional 35,094 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $967,820,000 after acquiring an additional 119,471 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its stake in MSCI by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,148,615 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $689,180,000 after acquiring an additional 49,679 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in MSCI in the fourth quarter worth $609,937,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 853,452 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $512,079,000 after purchasing an additional 25,325 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Stock Down 0.6 %

MSCI stock opened at $530.13 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $41.17 billion, a PE ratio of 37.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a 50 day moving average of $555.78 and a 200-day moving average of $584.22. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $458.69 and a 12-month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.88 by $0.12. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. The company had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $746.45 million. On average, research analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.48%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total transaction of $2,621,250.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 294,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $154,542,084.75. The trade was a 1.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $585.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $645.36.

MSCI Company Profile

MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides critical decision support tools and solutions for the investment community to manage investment processes worldwide. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed financial product, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.